‘Star Trek 3′ Will Be Directed By Roberto Orci

After basically being the only candidate on the table for weeks, Roberto Orci has finally landed the job of directing 'Star Trek 3.' Paramount must have a lot of faith in Orci, as this will be his first time directing ... ever.

The news was broken by Variety, and after the last couple of weeks it seemed that there was no way Orci wouldn't get the job. He's has always professed his love of the franchise and has been campaigning for the job for a while on top of being one of the core people behind the rebooted franchise. This move mirrors Paramount's choice to hire J.J. Abrams to direct 'Mission: Impossible: III,' but in that case Abrams had at least previously directed television episodes, while 'Star Trek 3' will be Orci's first credited time as a director on anything -- and on a project that is likely to have a budget well over a hundred million dollars.

Orci had previously scripted the first two 'Star Trek' films (which he did alongside his former writing partner Alex Kurtzman and on 'Star Trek Into Darkness' with Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof), along with being a master of big budget Hollywood screenwriting on films like the first two 'Transformers' movies and 'Cowboys and Aliens.' Considering the rebooted franchise can draw from any of the previous 'Trek' adventures, we'd guess that the new film will engage in time travel, like in 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home' (which was also the most successful film of the original franchise). Currently the film has no release date, but we'd peg it to come out sometime during summer 2016.